Bible Strands
Ezekiel 28:24
For the people of Israel will no longer face a pricking brier or a painful thorn from all around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Israel following a pronouncement of plague and sword. The moment marks the shift from imminent judgment to the promised restoration of the nation.
The words — The Hebrew סִלּוֹן (sillon) and קֹץ (qots) literally denote a brier and a thorn that prick or cause pain. These terms describe the hostile neighbors who will cease their contemptuous oppression.
The thread — The warning that unremoved inhabitants will become "barbs" or "thorns" runs through Numbers 33:55 and Joshua 23:13. The thorn motif is later repurposed in 2 Corinthians 12:7 to describe a personal, divinely permitted affliction.
Why it lands — The text requires Israel to acknowledge that their security and recognition of God hinge on His removal of oppressive neighbors. It asks the reader to accept that divine intervention, not human effort, establishes national stability and spiritual knowledge.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
Cross-references
- Numbers 33:55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle.
- Joshua 23:13 know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
- Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”
- Ezekiel 2:6 But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house.
- Judges 2:3 So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”
- Isaiah 35:9 No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.
- Jeremiah 12:14 This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
- Ezekiel 28:23 I will send a plague against her and shed blood in her streets; the slain will fall within her, while the sword is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
- Ezekiel 28:26 And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”